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big vs. small (friday_reflections)

i am, by nature, suspicious of big things. big corporations, big cars, big houses, even big churches. 

i love the "small" moments of life and ministry. one on one's with people at pavement, taking the time to listen to stories. sitting around a table at umass with some of our students, eating lunch and having conversations about everything under the sun. wednesday nights with our community group, reading the stories of scripture together and sharing life.

i also love (and am appreciating more and more) big moments too, getting caught up in a crowd. you haven't lived until you've sung "take me out to the ball game" and "sweet caroline" with 37,000 people at Fenway. i get emotional every time we sing "how he loves" at Reunion (with 200 others), but i wept when we sang it with David Crowder and 2000 others. Jesus attracted crowds. there's energy and momentum and life in large crowds of people.*

in the last two weeks amy and i have been to two concerts: tyrone wells at cafe 939 and bruno mars at agganis arena. two extremely different experiences. and yet both were amazing. i love tyrone and admire what he does. it takes guts to sing your heart out for 100 people, and it's fantastic to watch and even better to be able to talk to him about it afterwards. i'm never going to be able to grab a beer with bruno mars after a show, but there is also something fantastically compelling about watching such a talented dude enthrall 5000 people for an hour and a half. 

i am probably always going to error on the side of small. but, if i am being honest, i am growing in appreciation for the big, and maybe, more pertinently, i am interested by what makes big things compelling. why does a shaking stadium after a home run feel so good? why does the sound of 5000 people singing the lyrics to "just the way you are" at the top of their lungs give us goose-bumps?    

fascinating.


*the critic will point out that the crowd also killed Jesus, and that is true. but not every crowd killed Jesus. also, there seem to be a lot of people involved in what happens in heaven.